beyond the pale

Cultural  

1. Totally unacceptable: “His business practices have always been questionable, but this last takeover was beyond the pale.” The Pale in Ireland was a territorial limit beyond which English rule did not extend.

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beyond the pale Idioms  

1. Outside the bounds of morality, good behavior or judgment; unacceptable. For example, She thought taking the boys to a topless show was beyond the pale. The noun pale, from the Latin palum, meant “a stake for fences” or “a fence made from such stakes.” By extension it came to be used for an area confined by a fence and for any boundary, limit, or restriction, both of these meanings dating from the late 1300s. The pale referred to in the idiom is usually taken to mean the English Pale, the part of Ireland under English rule, and therefore, as perceived by its rulers, within the bounds of civilization.

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Example Sentences

Massie called the since-deleted video “beyond the pale” and called on the president to apologize.

From Salon

Even the idea of unity, which Jeep called for in a 2021 Super Bowl ad starring Bruce Springsteen, is probably beyond the pale.

From The Wall Street Journal

That would be bad behavior for any company, but it’s even further beyond the pale for a company that hosts sports prediction markets that could move based on a false report’s getting enough traction.

From Slate

It would be no different—except for the fact that Jeffrey Epstein is now considered to be a monster beyond the pale of anyone’s consideration—than the endless hours I spent in the room with Rupert Murdoch, a person who I believed was one of the great destructive forces of our time.

From Slate

Calling the move “beyond the pale,” he added that of the 46,616 messages his office has received since January, “not a single one” asked for a new congressional map in eastern North Carolina.

From Salon

Related Words

• banned
• outlawed
• prohibited
• tabu
• unthinkable